I mean sure, acai bowls are delicious, but not everything that's good for you is.

In comes apple cider vinegar y'all. Another weird and bad tasting thing thing to consume, that's going to do wonders for ya.

Apple cider vinegar is a super old, old wives tale type trick, that's been around forever. You may have heard of it, as the benefits of both consuming it, and USING it in your beauty routine are super enticing.

Benefits for your body include:

Weight loss (there's actually ACV diets that strictly suggest having ACV at certain times of the day!)

Improved digestion

Lower blood sugar

Reduced cholesterol

Fat loss (through breaking down fat)

Prevention of the flu and stomach illness

Increased energy (I definitely notice this one)

Alkaline blood balance (very important especially for the athlete in us all!)

High in minerals

Decreased appetite (can vouch for this one too - maybe because it's gross tasting but you definitely feel satiated)

For hair:

If you pour ACV over your hair in the shower, it apparently makes it superrrrrrr shiny by removing any product or grease build up

For teeth:

ACV has been said to whiten your teeth if you dilute it with water, and swish it around for 90 seconds everyday

For skin:

By using it with a cotton pad, you can swipe it over your face and it will remove bacteria, clean your pores and balance your pH

It's weird that something that tastes so strong, that's so cheaply and readily available at any grocery store can do so much! Kind of cool right?

ACV (it's honestly too long to type lol) is also SO CHEAP. It's like $7 dollars at basically every grocery store. I use the Bragg's kind, because it's organic vs. the highly filtered kinds like Heinz. Be sure to buy raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar (like Bragg’s). This variety has the “mother,” strands of proteins, enzymes and friendly bacteria that give the product a murky appearance similar to kombucha.

So how do I take my ACV? You can do it via a drink, or even a shot, which I do often to just get it out of the way. I know people mention that it can be 'bad' for you to do it when it's not diluted with water, so definitely dilute it, and drink water after taking it if you're doing it shot style.

You can also make a drink, like I have here!

Ingredients for a tasty drink:

Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar

Lemon

Water (you can also use sparkling to give it some fizz)

2 tablespoons of raw honey

Ginger or cayenne pepper (I don't like doing both because it can taste too powerful - one of these flavors is enough!)

The honey here is really key to balance that acid out and make it taste sweet. It's an interesting flavor, but I really like the way I feel when I drink it and now am used to the taste. This costs so little and is easy if you do it as a big batch early in the week to drink throughout whenever you want.

I've been taking ACV on and off for a few years, and weirdly feel the difference in fullness, and my energy levels when I do it. I definitely think it really helps with digestion too.

For me, it's just one of those things to have in your back pocket, that's so cheap, so easy and healthy.

But a few other good ways to add it to your diet is through drinks like the ones from Kevita, or Switchel, which has these amazing mason jar's of a honey, ginger, ACV mix. They're a bit pricey, at $9 dollars, but so good. It's a small company so it's good to support it.